Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor,
Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Chester,
Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great
Steward of Scotland. (born November 14, 1948), of the Royal House of Windsor,
is the son of Queen Elizabeth and heir to the British, Australian, Canadian,
New Zealand, and a number of other Commonwealth thrones. He is correctly
referred to as His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales or HRH
Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay (in Scotland). He was born in 1948
at Buckingham Palace to Princess Elizabeth, elder daughter of King George
VI and Queen Elizabeth. From birth, he was known as HRH Prince Charles
of Edinburgh. In 1952, his mother inherited the throne, becoming Queen
Elizabeth II, and Charles immediately became Duke of Cornwall, becoming
known as HRH The Duke of Cornwall. Charles was created Prince of
Wales in 1958, though his actual investiture did not take place until July
1, 1969. This was a major ceremony, held at Caernarfon Castle in north
Wales, a place traditionally associated with the creation of the title
in the thirteenth century. Previous investitures had taken place at various
locations, including the Palace of Westminster, the seat of parliament.

Prior to the ceremony, Charles had studied at Gordonstoun School in
Scotland, at Trinity College, Cambridge, and also at the University College
of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he went specifically in order to learn the
Welsh language -- the first English-born prince ever to make a serious
attempt to do so. This won him some popularity in the principality, but
the investiture also aroused considerable hostility among some Welsh nationalists,
and there were threats of violence. In the late 1970s, Charles established
another first when he became the first member of the Royal Family since
King George I to attend a British cabinet meeting, he being invited to
attend by Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan so as to see the workings
of cabinet government at first hand.

In 1981, Prince Charles married a teenage Lady Diana Spencer, daughter
of the 8th Earl Spencer. It was to be perhaps the biggest royal marriage
ever held. All of Europe's crowned heads (with the exception of King Juan
Carlos of Spain, who was advised not to attend because the new couple's
honeymoon would involve a stop-over in the disputed territory of Gibraltar)
attended. So, too, did most of Europe's presidents, with two notable exceptions:
President Karamanlis of Greece declined to go, because Greece's exiled
King, Constantine II, who was a personal friend of the prince, had been
described in his invitation as 'King of Greece', the technically correct
description of an exiled monarch who hadn't abdicated, but which infuriated
Greek republicans. Similarly, Ireland's President Hillery was formally
advised by the Irish government of Charles J. Haughey not to attend because
of the continued dispute over Britain's role in Northern Ireland.

By marriage to the heir to the throne, Diana received both a title,
"Princess of Wales", and the style, "Her Royal Highness". They made their
homes at Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Kensington Palace. Almost immediately,
Diana became a star attraction, chased by the paparazzi and the news media,
her every move (including changes in hair-style) followed by millions.
However, the marriage soon hit the rocks. Critics of Diana alleged that
she was unstable and tempermental; one by one she sacked each of Charles's
longstanding staff members and fell out with numerous friends (her father,
mother, brother, Duchess of York, Elton John, her own staff -- who quit
after rows). Charles, too, was blamed for the marital troubles. He and
Camilla Shand had ended their relationship in the 1970s and now found themselves
in unhappy marriages. The restart of their affair in the late 1980s was
to destroy what remained of the fairytale Charles and Diana marriage, which
within five years of the wedding was already on the brink of collapse.
Ironically, Charles and Diana were similar in some respects: Both had troubled
childhoods. Both took their public roles seriously and devoted much of
their time to charity work, becoming highly regarded for it. (Diana notably
devoted much time to helping AIDS sufferers, while Charles devoted much
effort to marginalised groups in urban centres through his Prince's Trust
charity.

Both partners subsequently admitted to extra-marital affairs, he with
Mrs. Parker Bowles, she with a number of people, including a young army
officer. Though they remained publicly a couple, they effectively had separated
by the late 1980s, he living in Highgrove, she in Kensington Palace. The
media noted their increasing periods apart and their obvious discomfort
at being in each other's presence. By 1992, it was obvious that the marriage
was over in all but name. The couple formally separated, with media sources
taking different sides in what became known as the "War of the Waleses".
Charles received much of the blame when details of his relationship with
Mrs. Parker Bowles were revealed. She and her husband divorced, and he
married a woman with whom he had had a long-term relationship during his
marriage.

The marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales formally ended in divorce
in 1996. It had produced two sons, Prince William and Prince Henry, who
is known by the name 'Harry'. Tragically, Diana was killed in a car accident
in 1997. Charles earned considerable praise for his handling of the events
and their aftermath, in particular his over-ruling of palace protocol experts
(and indeed the Queen) who argued that as Diana (by then known as Diana,
Princess of Wales was no longer a member of the Royal Family, the responsibility
for her funeral arrangements belonged to her blood relatives, the Spencers.
Charles, against advice, flew to Paris to accompany his ex-wife's body
home and insisted that she be given a formal royal funeral; a new category
of formal funeral was specially created for her. His role as a single father
earned much sympathy, in particular in how he handled a crisis when it
was revealed that his younger son, Prince Harry, had dabbled in soft drugs.
From extreme unpopularity in the early 1990s, Charles became one of the
more popular members of the Royal Family.

His relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles is now openly acknowledged,
with her becoming his unofficial consort. However two issues remain over
the relationship. As future Supreme Governor of the Church of England,
the prospect of him marrying a divorcée, with whom he had a relationship
while both were married, is controversial. (Since Diana, Princess of Wales
has died, he himself is technically a widower, not a divorcé, and so there
is no problem with him marrying a second time. But as Mrs. Parker
Bowles has a former husband still alive, she is technically a divorcée,
hence the problem.) However public opinion and opinion within the Church
has shifted somewhat to a point where a majority would accept a second
marriage. However he is unlikely to marry until public opinion expects
as opposed to merely accepts a remarriage.

Secondly and more sensitively, there remains the issue of Mrs. Parker
Bowles' title after marriage. In strict constitutional law, she
would automatically assume the title 'Princess of Wales' and the style
'Royal Highness'. Such a development is almost almost universally unacceptable,
even to those supporting a marriage between the couple. Legislation may
have to be enacted allowing for a morganatic marriage, whereby she could
neither become a princess or queen, and would not be styled HRH, but would
use a courtesy title, perhaps 'Duchess of Cornwall'. (He is Duke of Cornwall.)
Though her age suggests it is highly improbable, such legislation would
also need to state that any children of the union would be excluded from
the succession to the throne. Practical issues would also potentially arise
over the status of her children by her first marriage, who in the event
of a second marriage would become step-children of the future king and
step-brothers and step-sisters to Princes William and Harry. (And so the
focus of media attention, hence the need for some clarifications, such
as inheritance rights to property of the Prince of Wales, police protection,
etc.)

Prince Charles is an avid horseman and huntsman. He served in the Royal
Navy, commanding the HMS Bronington, a minehunter, from February 1976 until
December 1976. He is also a talented artist and a published writer. The
Prince's Trust, which he founded, is a charity that works mainly with young
people, offering loans to groups, businesses and people (often in deprived
areas) who had difficulty receiving support from mainstream lending institutions.
The Prince's Trust is believed to have helped thousands of people in poor
inner-city areas get jobs and training. In this role, the Prince has become
surprisingly popular with many left-wing politicians, who see his charity
as helping those who were receiving aid from nowhere else. Fundraising
concerts are regularly held for the Prince's Trust, with leading pop, rock
and classical musicians taking part.

Charles is a complex character. An openly-admitted depressive, a passionate
man who cares deeply about issues such as the environment, architecture,
inner-city renewal and the quality of life, he is highly regarded on the
international stage as an effective performer for the United Kingdom. On
a visit to the Republic of Ireland, for example, instead of simply using
a standard foreign office speech, he delivered a personally-researched,
personally-written speech on Anglo-Irish affairs which was warmly received
by Irish politicians and the Irish media. While his popularity has fluctuated,
he remans the most active Prince of Wales in centuries, who, while he could
have opted for a low-key life, has devoted his time and effort to trying
to better the lives of his future subjects. Only the Camilla issue remains
as the complicating factor in his public image and persona.

Additional Information

Jonathan Dimbleby, The Prince of Wales: A Biography (ISBN 0316910163)

External link

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation
License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire
work (including additions) remains under this license. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html
for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Prince_Charles